Word of the Day

: April 5, 2010

sward

noun SWORD

What It Means

1 : a portion of ground covered with grass

2 : the grassy surface of land

sward in Context

"Students in flip-flops slap lazily across the green swards of campuses as bell music peals from the campaniles." (Sally Jenkins, The Washington Post, August 31, 2005)

Did You Know?

"Sward," which sprouted up in the English language more than 500 years ago, is currently used more frequently as a surname than as a noun having to do with lawns and the like. Still, you'll find the occasional reference to a "green sward" or "grassy sward" in newspapers. And the term pops up in a number of old novels, such as in this quote from Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles: "The sun was so near the ground, and the sward so flat, that the shadows of Clare and Tess would stretch a quarter of a mile ahead of them...." "Sward" at one time referred to skin or rind, and especially to the rind of pork or bacon, although this meaning is now archaic. The word comes from the Old English "sweard" or "swearth," meaning "skin" or "rind."